ALPA Defeats Emirates in Rent-A-Code Scheme

[General Lee]

General,

Why did Typhoon leave? Who knows? I'm guessing because he wanted to. Maybe he bought a villa in Phuket and wants to be close to it. Maybe he missed living in the USA and has plenty of money in his bank account. Maybe he wanted a little variety in his life and decided to try out a new airline. Maybe he's sick of Dubai. Not everyone wants to put on the same uniform for 30 years. As a contract pilot you aren't tied to one airline. You don't take a big pay cut when you change jobs.

Because I'm bored here's a breakdown of my last 12 months (777fo). I never broke 90 hours. Captains have tougher schedules. Generally one extra trip per month. FO's fly 65-85 hours and CA's seem to be around 80-92. The company won't give you more than 92 even if you wanted it as it triggers premium pay.

Oct- 21 Days Off, 1 turnaround, 66 Hours
Sep- 17 Days Off, 1 turn, 86 Hours
Aug -22 Days Off, No Turns, 44 hours
Jul- 15 Days off ,No Turns, 79 hours
Jun- 17 days off, No turns, 53 hours block
May-14 days off, No turns, 85 hours
Apr - 18 Days off, No Turns, 58 hours
March- 11 Days Off, No Turns, 81 Hours
Feb- 13 Days Off, 0 Turns, 79 Hours
Jan- 17 Days Off, 2 turns, 52 hours
Dec2012- 15 Days Off, 1 turn, 73 hours
Nov2012- Reserve all month. Zero scheduled days off. Find out the night before if you are off or on call. Everybody sits reserve appx 1 month per year.

Not the best in the world but certainly not bad. Etihad and Qatar are a different story. IMHO there is only one airline in the ME worth working for. Plenty of downsides to EK but I think it's very competitive when stacked up against Delta.

Would i give up my spot for a place on the Fedex list? In a heartbeat.

There you go. Thank you for this post. Well said, and it does clear up a lot. Sounds like your Capts are worked hard, but I appreciate your month explanations. That helps everyone see what type of schedule some people have. Reading posts from other boards shows some fleets have tougher schedules (330) and do more night turns. I know that fleet is being phased out, (maybe 343 and 345 too?) and 777s may take over a lot of those rough night turns.

Your airline isn't for everyone. It takes a special commitment, especially if you need to bring a family over. The housing and school allowances are good apparently, especially compared to other Gulf carriers. There is no doubt you can see the World at your airline, flying with a load of gorgeous FAs, which may be fun. Having a family may be tougher for just those reasons, and people should know about that prior to making a big decision like that. The laws are different over there, and that needs to be known too.

Thanks for the good post.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[8sugarsugar]

This is not hurting Emirates. It is hurting NAC. Makes you wonder how different this would be if United/Delta and Emirates inked the deal instead of NAC and Emirates. Its also hurting the American passengers who work over there.

Basically, from what I understand, NAC moves contractors from Dubai to afghan. Contractors fly into Dubai on Emirates anyway from one of the 7, soon to be more US destinations, find their baggage, re-check it on NAC's charter...total pain in the ass. Emirates and NAC wanted to make this seamless, one ticket/transfer/business class lounge comfort/no immigration.

Could these guys use Delta or United? sure, but your only choice is Atlanta or Dulles not to mention the absolute torture. That is why these guys that work in afghan already fly on Emirates.. convenience and very comfortable service.

By blocking this deal with NAC, all it is doing is making it much more miserable for these passengers. They are still going to fly into Dubai on Emirates anyway. If NAC doesn't take them the rest of the way, it will be Atlas, Omni, etc etc.

Why can't Delta fly a daily shuttle from Dubai to afghan? Get a piece of that Government cheese.

 

[General Lee]

This is not hurting Emirates. It is hurting NAC. Makes you wonder how different this would be if United/Delta and Emirates inked the deal instead of NAC and Emirates. Its also hurting the American passengers who work over there.

Basically, from what I understand, NAC moves contractors from Dubai to afghan. Contractors fly into Dubai on Emirates anyway from one of the 7, soon to be more US destinations, find their baggage, re-check it on NAC's charter...total pain in the ass. Emirates and NAC wanted to make this seamless, one ticket/transfer/business class lounge comfort/no immigration.

Could these guys use Delta or United? sure, but your only choice is Atlanta or Dulles not to mention the absolute torture. That is why these guys that work in afghan already fly on Emirates.. convenience and very comfortable service.

By blocking this deal with NAC, all it is doing is making it much more miserable for these passengers.

Why can't Delta fly a daily shutting from Dubai to afghan? Get a piece of that Government cheese.

Cause you guys like Kabul? DL from ATL and UAL from IAD can easily get people to DXB, and then National and their 757 can fly people to Afghanistan. As taxpayers, we shouldn't have to fund a foreign airline when ours can do it just fine, and it looks like our Govt agrees. UAL also flies to KWI, Doha, and Bahrain (2 are one stoppers). From IAD, that's good for contractors. DL is currently upgrading interiors on different fleets (744s pretty much done, A330s getting new mods now, 767s done), so I don't think INTL expansion to the ME is high on the priority list. Eventually, maybe more cities will be added. Three new INTL city pairs have been announced from SEA--to LHR, ICN, and HKG. That beats Kabul any day. Enjoy it!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[8sugarsugar]

then so be it. its a drop in the bucket. Not going to hurt Emirates. UAL is fighting for maybe 80 people per day? If that even.

 

[Varmint]

Thanks for the clarification, but DL and ALPA pushed against EK taking handouts from the EXIM Bank, with discounts for "poor countries." Is the UAE a poor country? So, UAL pilots and DL pilots have partnered with ALPA (lead by a DL pilot) to give your airline a backhanded slap. Thanks.


Bye Bye---General Lee

Are handouts from EXIM bank the topic of this thread? Yes or no?

 

[General Lee]

Are handouts from EXIM bank the topic of this thread? Yes or no?

Yes? What's up with the "tude" btw? "Yes or No?" Really? You must be a demanding Capt.. If and when you decide to come back to the States, I'll be a more understanding Capt for you. Have a great day!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Varmint]

Yes? What's up with the "tude" btw? "Yes or No?" Really? You must be a demanding Capt.. If and when you decide to come back to the States, I'll be a more understanding Capt for you. Have a great day!


Bye Bye---General Lee

I made my point....I rest my case.

 

[flyboyike]

True. The torrent of water has to start sometime. I think the Legacies are currently ramping up for hiring. Once it does start at all 3, it will likely continue for years.

Nothing HAS to do anything, General. I'd certainly like the proverbial floodgates to open (just like everyone else in my position), but the fact remains that they're barely cracked.

 

[Buford]

Ok, so I'm not the pilot of the family but my experience with Emirates covers over 11 years worth, starting in the late 1990's. We've been back here a while and the flying that my husband does just isn't physically sustainable. The layovers aren't what they were when I worked for Emirates (no, we didn't meet flying). The time zones the guys cover and the hours they fly are not what I want to see him doing as he gets older. Unfortunately, there are no unions here and the company can do as they please. Swapping is no walk in the park. You can only swap max two flights a month and there are so many rules involved with that you need a whole lot of luck. As a US citizen he still pays tax here. We can't afford the US schools without cutting into our kids college savings so our kids attend British schools. We're lucky because we've been here long enough that we got a good school for our kids but there are a lot of crappy ones here. Many American pilots that came after the initial lot came from the Regionals and I totally understand why they love Emirates. The thing with being here is that the first 5-7 years is very doable but at some point you ask yourself how long can you be here? It gets more expensive by the year, every day you take your life in your hands driving the roads, the rules change constantly regarding visas, ID cards, documentation for this that and the other. What we do have is a steady pay check and an easy lifestyle. FWIW we don't have a maid, a boat, or two cars - yes, we do have a gardener. We've done all the sights and attractions and what we miss is jumping in the car and going on a road trip. We came here because it was all there was at the time. A job at NWA went away after 9/11 (in the pool at the time), we went to a carrier that went bankrupt soon after and by that stage we had two little ones - EK came at the perfect time and we appreciated the opportunity. However, at the end of the day, we're all mercenaries here and if Dubai could replace the crews and flight attendants with Emiratis they would - don't ever kid yourself.

 

[Green]

Buford,

I'm going to call bullish#t on your post. I'm guessing your husband is a Purser or cabin crew? If he was a pilot then you would understand the swap system. There is NO limit of two swaps per month. There IS a two swap per month limit on cabin crew. A pilot can swap unlimited times even the same trip. As much as you want. You could make 20 swaps a month if you like. The fact that you don't know that basic fact makes the rest of your post suspect. If he is a pilot then for some reason he's not telling you the truth about the swap system. That is strange...

Yes cabin crew work too hard. But the pilot contract is decent. I posted a year's worth of representative rosters above. Find me an airline that pays the same as EK with substantially better rosters. There are some but not many.